Rep. Raul Labrador, a key Republican leader in the House immigration talks, said Wednesday his colleagues need to be “open minded” on a “pathway to citizenship” or risk losing out on the other things they want in an immigration bill such as border security and a guest worker program.

While arguing that calling something a “pathway to citizenship” was a minor issue in the overall immigration debate, the conservative Idaho congressman seemed open to eventually allowing undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship.

“What I think should happen is for illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows, become legalized in some way and that status could lead in someway to legal residency and citizenship eventually but just the same as everybody else,” he told reporters.

Labrador is the latest Republican to express openness to eventual citizenship for the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

But Labrador played down the significance of a “pathway,” noting that Republicans need to be assured the immigration system will be reformed in away where illegal immigration no longer becomes an issue. That means having strong border security and a guest worker program. He said that no Republican would support a plan without those two requirements.

“The key question any Republican will ask is how are we going to prevent having 20 million 10 years from now asking for a pathway, that’s why I keep saying you can’t emphasize what are we going to do about the 11 million, that’s not the key question — the key question is how can we prevent that,” he said.